Codemasters Online Unveil The Lord of the Rings Online™ Referral ProgrammeNew friend referral scheme offers FREE Amazon vouchers for current LOTRO players 4th February, 2009 - Codemasters Online have today unveiled a fantastic, new“Refer a Friend” programme for its award-winning, massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO).* Now players can earn themselves Amazon vouchers simply by encouraging their friends and family to join them in-game by creating their own LOTRO accounts.
“With its immersive storyline, innovative features and breathtaking world to explore, The Lord of the Rings Online is well regarded as one of the world’s premium MMOs and a game that really excels when experienced with friends,” explained David Solari, Vice President&General Manager, Codemasters Online.“What better resolution to make for the start of the New Year than to encourage your friends to start playing with you, while earning rewards for yourself at the same time?”
To take part in the programme, which launches on 4th February all current players need to do is visit the LOTRO Refer a Friend page at www.lotro-europe.com/refer and enter their friends’ email addresses to send them a personal invitation to a fantastic 14-day free trial and a 25% discount off the game.** In return, players can look forward to a£5 or€5 Amazon voucher for each friend who goes on to create a full game subscription for themselves.
The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate online adventure and has just celebrated the launch of its first retail expansion pack, Mines of Moria™, which continues the epic story of Middle-earth and introduces new character classes, hundreds of new quests and the revolutionary new Legendary Items system. For more information on The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™, please visit www.lotro-europe.com
For full terms and conditions for the Player Referral Programme visit www.lotro-europe.com/refer
*This information applies to European Players Only
** Applies to European digital download of the game through Codemasters e-store only.
ABOUT CODEMASTERS
Codemasters is a leading developer and publisher of best-selling interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms and channels. Established in 1986, the company’s dominant brands include Colin McRae DiRT, Race Driver GRID, Overlord and Operation Flashpoint; the company recently secured the exclusive worldwide video game rights to FORMULA 1. Codemasters is headquartered in Warwickshire UK, with North American operations based in Universal City, California. The company also maintains operations in Germany, France, Spain, Benelux and Malaysia. Codemasters receives over two million visitors to its web site every month, discover why at www.codemasters.com
ABOUT CODEMASTERS ONLINE
Codemasters Online is a leading global publisher / operator of online persistent world games. Established in 2005 and part of the wider Codemasters organisation, in a short time Codemasters Online has become one of the west’s leading gaming companies specialising in persistent world services. With a suite of successful persistent games including the hugely popular The Lord of the Rings Online™, ArchLord and forthcoming space based MMO Jumpgate Evolution, Codemasters Online is one of the fastest growing specialists in massively multiplayer online games in the world.
ABOUT TURBINE
Turbine, Inc. is the premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds that foster powerful social gaming communities. Turbine has grown to become one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America. Turbine has created some of the world’s most popular and award-winning online

First LOTRO expansion announced

News by Oli Welsh
Friday
Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine unveiled the second volume of the Tolkein-licensed massively multiplayer RPG at Connect 08 in Birmingham today.

Speaking at the Codemasters Online Gaming event, executive producer Jeffrey Steefel said it will be titled The Mines of Moria and is down for a release before the end of the year. It will be the first of a series of planned yearly updates to Lord of the Rings Online.

The Mines of Moria will take high-level players out of the kingdom of Eriador and into the goblin-infested underground world, formerly a dwarven kingdom, just after the Fellowship of the Ring has passed through it in the events of the books. The Mines will be a reproduced as a single, continuous space in the game.

Players will face off against bosses famous from Tolkien lore - The Balrog and The Watcher. Steefel promised fighting the former in particular would be an "unforgettable" experience, but he didn't explain how it would fit into the official Lord of the Rings continuity.

Ten new levels will be added to the game, raising the cap from 50 to 60. In addition there will be two new classes, the Warden and the Runekeeper. Steefel refused to elaborate on these, promising more information in the coming months. They sound like a tank and caster to us but that's just a guess.

A new Legendary items system will also be introduced. This will essentially allow certain equipment - armour, weapons and shields - to develop its own advancement path alongside the player character, gaining experience, deeds and legacies, and becoming an intrinsic part of high-level players' character builds.

Other features announced include a large number of instances for groups of 3, 5, 12 and 24 players, new monster player scenarios, a new system of leaderboards and achievement rankings, dynamic lighting effects, more environment-aware AI, and a chance to join the Fellowship in Lorien, tying players even more closely into the Lord of the Rings storyline.

To promote the new expansion, Turbine has just launched a website: unlocktheminesofmoria.com. You can register there now for a chance to play though a web adventure that will unlock in-game deeds and items for your LOTRO character, as well as previewing the events of the new volume. The first web minigame, King Under the Mountain, launches on the site on March 31st.

Steefel also mentioned that LOTRO would be launched in Russia, China and Korea this year, and provided some details of the next free updates to the game - Books 13 and 14. Book 13 will feature a new region, the introduction of a hobby system with fishing, and improvements to the game's 'looking for group' interface.

Look out for further updates from Connect 08 - including more on Lord of the Rings Online and NetDevil's space combat MMO Jumpgate Evolution - in the coming days.